The preferred embodiment of the invention as described and disclosed herein is intended for use by observant Jews who are not permitted, for example, to directly or indirectly cause changes in electric current flow during the Sabbath and specified holidays. It will be understood, however, that the principles of the invention apply to any situation in which it is required that activity by a person or persons must be prevented from directly or indirectly causing current flow change.
In U.S. Pat. No. 9,024,545 (Bloch et al) there is disclosed a system for automatically preventing the manual actuation of an electrical switch in an electrical circuit from causing a change in current flow through that circuit during Sabbath and holiday times. The disclosure in the Bloch et al patent is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The present invention incorporates some of the principles and features of the inventions described in the Bloch et al patent. Specifically, Bloch et al disclose apparatus and methods that function to utilize date, time and geographic location data combined with electronic and/or mechanical devices to enable a control system to operate apparatus in accordance with Orthodox Jewish law, in particular by utilizing religious reference times that are calculated from the positional relationship of the sun and moon to the apparatus's specific geographic location. For example, although Boston, Mass. and Grand Rapids, Mich. are in the same eastern U.S. time zone, because of the east-west distance between them they experience sundown at different times. The stored data is thus specific to the location of the system so that sundown (and other such times of religious observance significance) is accurately established for that location. A timer system accesses data from a Jewish calendar to determine Gregorian calendar dates and times of specified Jewish events (e.g., Sabbath, holidays, prayer times, etc.), which data may be stored in the timer system or retrieved as needed from a remote location. The timer system similarly accesses data representing the time of year, time of day and the geographic location of the electrical circuit, which data may be internally stored or remotely retrieved. From this data the system establishes a normal operating mode in which an on/off switch is permitted to effect current changes in the circuit, and a holiday (including Sabbath) operating mode in which the state of circuit current flow existing at the time of holiday mode initiation is maintained for the entire holiday/Sabbath, irrespective of manual actuation of the on/off switch. The data for determining the various event dates and times may be stored in the timer system along with data representing the geographic location of the user's system. Geographic location data may be entered by the system user or determined by access to a Global Positioning System (GPS). From the location data the requisite times of day (e.g., sunrise, sunset) for effecting mode operations may be accessed from a lookup table stored in the timer system or may be computed pursuant to established algorithms.
When the electrical appliance to be controlled is a refrigerator, freezer, or other appliance in which current changes must occur in order to maintain the appliance functional, the prevention of manually initiated current change during proscribed times presents a somewhat different issue. Specifically, proper refrigerator operation requires the compressor motor to be turned on and off at different times to maintain the temperature of the contents of the refrigerator within the prescribed temperature ranges necessary to prevent the contained food from spoiling. This on/off operation is typically controlled as a function of the temperature sensed inside the food storage compartment. When a refrigerator door is opened, the inrush of warm air from the ambient environment changes the temperature inside the unit and thereby affects the timing of the on/off operation of the compressor motor and its use of electric current. For observant Jews the change of current flow resulting from the door opening, even if the actual current flow change is delayed until the sensed interior temperature rises sufficiently to a threshold temperature after the door is closed, would be a violation of Jewish law. It is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus that prevents such violation.